Nurse

MILWAUKEE (MCT) -- A Madison, Wis.-based health care system says a registered nurse who is trained and certified as a diabetic educator may have exposed hundreds of patients at area clinics to blood-borne diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C in the past five years. Dean Clinic issued a statement Monday saying the nurse, who no longer works for the health care system, inappropriately used insulin demonstration pens and finger stick devices while teaching patients newly diagnosed with diabetes to manage their glucose between 2006 and 2011.

MISHAWAKA -- Gale Myers has been awarded The Daisy Award for extraordinary nurses by going above and beyond the call of duty. Myers is a nurse in the intensive care unit at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka. On one of her days off, Myers arranged a reunion between a severely ill patient and his beloved dog whom he took better care of than himself, according to his mother. Brought out of sedation for the reunion, the patient was licked by his dog and the entire unit cried along with the patient.

PLYMOUTH -- Indiana State Police have arrested a nurse who worked at a Plymouth nursing home and who investigators believe stole a credit card and medication from residents there. The 26-year-old Lakeville woman was booked in the Marshall County Jail on Thursday on preliminary charges of forgery, theft, possession of a legend drug and interfering with the delivery of a prescription drug by a health care provider. A resident of Miller's Merry Manor reported to police Tuesday that a credit card was missing, state police said.

SOUTH BEND -- Memorial Hospital will present the fourth annual Jeni Bishop Scholarship award and recognize nine nurses with the Spirit of Nursing Award at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the hospital's auditorium. The Jeni Bishop Scholarship is awarded to an aspiring nurse, who is also caring for young children at home. This scholarship was developed in memory of Memorial intensive care unit nurse Jeni Bishop, who was shot to death along with four others in a Tinley Park, Ill., store in 2008.

Marjorie Fuller was a nurse’s aide at Healthwin Hospital, 20531 W. Darden Road in South Bend. As this early 1930s photograph of her shows, she dressed in white from head to toe, including her cap, uniform and shoes, following her profession’s dress code of the day. At the time, Healthwin served as St. Joseph County’s tuberculosis sanitarium, caring for patients with the disease. Fuller’s daughter, Marjorie Ramey, recently donated to the Center for History this picture of her mother holding an infant.

SOUTH BEND -- Teri Dill, 41, shook her husband, Todd, awake and said that she needed to be driven to the emergency room immediately. Her swollen foot had turned purple overnight, a clear indication that the two, already detected arterial and venous blood clots in her right leg had worsened. With a history of hyper clotting and a nurse at the Sanctuary at St. Paul's herself, Dill knew the situation had become dire. That was on May 4. A few days later, she was airlifted to the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital and spent multiple days in immense, throbbing pain while doctors examined her declining condition.

SOUTH BEND Teri Dill, 41, shook her husband, Todd, awake and said that she needed to be driven to the emergency room immediately. Her swollen foot had turned purple overnight, a clear indication that the two, already detected arterial and venous blood clots in her right leg had worsened. With a history of hyper clotting and a nurse at the Sanctuary at St. Paul's herself, Dill knew the situation had become dire. That was on May 4. A few days later, she was airlifted to the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital and spent multiple days in immense, throbbing pain while doctors examined her declining condition.

Dear Annie, My wife said I should ask for your advice. We have a next-door neighbor, "Dee," whose husband died 10 years ago. She's become my wife's best friend and confidant. I help with maintenance on her house and car. We both think the world of her. My doctor has a small practice with one nurse. I've been going to him forever, but he's getting along in years. He has a hard time keeping up with the patient charts and taking notes, so he has his nurse stay in the exam room after prepping the patients in order to assist the doctor.

Jim Pickens saw the photographer kneel down and aim his camera at the kissing couple ahead of him. He smiled and kept walking, not knowing if he also was going to be in the photograph. He was. When the picture was printed in Life magazine, Jim was on the edge, serving as the border of its left side. When several newspapers later reprinted the picture “some of them cropped me out,” he admits. The picture was one of the most famous ever taken. Photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt clicked his camera at a sailor giving a nurse a big smooch in New York City’s Times Square.

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) -- A hospital nurse who was found passed out with a needle in her hand has been accused of stealing painkillers. Tracy E. Allen, 33, of Portage is charged with felony theft. Police say the Porter Valparaiso hospital nurse took liquid painkillers and replaced them with salt water. A nurse reported Jan. 15 that a bottle of the painkiller Fentanyl appeared to have been punctured with a needle and replaced with another substance, Valparaiso police said. That day, Allen was found passed out on a floor.

SOUTH BEND -- Lillian Nyakaisiki is a nurse, a sister of the Holy Cross and will graduate from Holy Cross College on Saturday. Unlike most soon-to-be graduates, her future, she says, is not really in her hands, but rather in the hands of God. "When I said yes to God (becoming a sister), I said yes to this new family (Sisters of the Holy Cross)," she says. "I will go where I am needed. " Originally from Fort Portal, Uganda, Nyakaisiki came to South Bend after already becoming both a sister and a nurse.

SOUTH BEND -- As the nation's shortage of primary-care physicians grows, nurse practitioners are becoming increasingly important in caring for patients. For example, Dr. Jesse Hsieh, president of the board of trustees at South Bend Clinic, said he would like the clinic eventually to have a 1:1 ratio of doctors to nurse practitioners. So, what exactly is a nurse practitioner? "A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who earns an advanced degree with specialized training in assessment, diagnosing and treatment," said Roxanne Wolfram, director of the master's of science in nursing program at Indiana University South Bend.

GRANGER -- Katie Haynie browsed a menu at Tony Sacco's with her husband sitting across the table and holding her smiling 10-month-old daughter Penelope, dressed in a checkered onesie. Haynie, a first-time mother, dined at the restaurant with her family Thursday afternoon as part of a "nurse-in" in support of a woman who was asked to leave the dining room while she breastfed her son during lunch at Tony Sacco's on Sunday. In an incident that received publicity from local media outlets, a manager at the Granger restaurant asked the woman to finish nursing her son elsewhere due to a complaint from another customer.

SOUTH BEND -- Memorial Hospital will present the fourth annual Jeni Bishop Scholarship award and recognize nine nurses with the Spirit of Nursing Award at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the hospital's auditorium. The Jeni Bishop Scholarship is awarded to an aspiring nurse, who is also caring for young children at home. This scholarship was developed in memory of Memorial intensive care unit nurse Jeni Bishop, who was shot to death along with four others in a Tinley Park, Ill., store in 2008.

The next time you are suffering from a sinus infection or earache, or need a flu shot or sports physical, you will find a growing number of alternatives to making a traditional appointment to see your family doctor. Consider the north side of Mishawaka and Granger, where a variety of medical facilities recently opened or are under construction, including in-store retail clinics, convenient care clinics, urgent care centers and specialty medical centers. In the past few months, Med-Point 24 on North Main Street has been joined by Physicians Immediate Care Center and Doctors Express Care Center.

An investigator with the Tinley Park Police Department has told his commander he wakes up every morning with the 2008 Lane Bryant homicides on his mind. And he thinks about those shootings right before he falls asleep each night. He is one of three detectives who every day for the past five years has combed through clues and tips about the unsolved Feb. 2, 2008, slaying of five women in a Lane Bryant clothing store in Tinley Park, Ill. One of the women killed was Jennifer Bishop, a South Bend resident and Memorial Hospital nurse who went by Jeni.

PLYMOUTH -- Indiana State Police have arrested a nurse who worked at a Plymouth nursing home and who investigators believe stole a credit card and medication from residents there. The 26-year-old Lakeville woman was booked in the Marshall County Jail on Thursday on preliminary charges of forgery, theft, possession of a legend drug and interfering with the delivery of a prescription drug by a health care provider. A resident of Miller's Merry Manor reported to police Tuesday that a credit card was missing, state police said.

I read with interest the Oct. 28 Viewpoint column advocating the continuation of multiple entry-level education requirements for the registered nurse. As an RN who originally obtained anassociate of science degree in nursing, and who has since obtained advanced degrees in nursing, I believe that this current practice not only leads to confusion by the general population, but also results in poor preparation for the RN to deal with the increasing complexities, required competence and advanced skills now demanded of the RN. Current research demonstrates that safety of the patient is directly impacted by the educational level of the RN. Nurses may be able to earn a degree in two years, but at what cost?

A few months ago, I was visiting a friend in the hospital. As I observed the staff attending to him, I was immediately impressed by the quality of care he received. It was clear that he was their priority, and that he was in very good hands. As I considered this, another thought struck me: While a wide variety of professionals were involved in my friend's care, the one true constant was the nursing staff. They were his lifeline. They were most responsible for his satisfaction at their facility -- and more importantly, most responsible for his likelihood of making a complete recovery after he was sent home.

MISHAWAKA -- The Advocacy Committee of REAL Services will host a public forum at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Battell Center, 904 N. Main St. Every day, 10 million Americans need help with tasks such as eating, dressing and bathing, yet most people have never researched options for nursing care, according to a news release. The forum, "Adventures in Aging: Researching Nursing Care Options," will include presentations from the long-term care ombudsman program, a registered nurse, a nursing home administrator and a family member.